I had the Kenwood 2090 for a couple months and had a problem with the DTS. A chirping noise would travle around the speakers after about 45min. of play and would eventualy cut out to static. It did finaly burn out completely. The place where I bought it did agree to exchange it for another product. Although I did love the sound it provided. I did have a problem with some DVDs DD sound tracks, the auto switch from prologic and DD woulnd't work and on some DVDs, I couln't make it play the DD sound. I didn't mind the remote like some others stated, and I think I would give it about 3 to 4 stars.

I owned this reciever for about two weeks,,after which i exchanged it ,,that remote just diddent grow on me.

Great sound

The controler and I have come to an understanding...

Ok, I revied this product over 2 years ago and though it was time for an update. Who know someone may be looking to buy one.

Anyway, after all the trouble I had with the unit, I spent sometime on the Kenwood support site talking to other owners. They all had similar complaints and problems as I did yet they still loved the system.

Turns out there are two major flaws with the receiver. First, the 5 fuses inside tend to blow very easy as they are under-rated. If yours blow you won't get any sound out. Go to Radio Shack and buy replacements at a slightly higher rated value. Replace all of them at the same time and save yourself some trouble. Sooner or later they will all go.

The second problem is with cooling. There is a fan inside which is switched on by a sensor (mine never switched on). As a result I kept blowing the amps. I replaced the sensor however I placed a small external computer fan on the back of the unit to ensure the unit was being cooled all the time.

Two year later and it's not missed a beat. Very pleased with the system.

Has anyone heard or read any reviews regarding this unit?? For the money it seems to have everything, DD/DTS. I am interested in sound quality and ease of use (the new remote seems pretty cool but have not used it). thanks

Last weekend I saw this reciever in the DAMARK cataloge and I could not put it down! So... I went down to the Good Guys store in town where a friend works and played with the VR2080, (the "guys" @ the Good Guys couldn't get the VR2090 to work because they would not sit down and read the manual!!! :-( ) But, they had the VR2080 working with the new 2280m MEGA CD Changer, and a couple of Energy speakers. It was AWESOME!!! The new remote that Kenwood has with the unit is great! Though it is mostly for people who like to tinker and have fun with gadgets... Though with a little playing around anybody can use it. I was very impressed with the interface that Kenwood is using, for the most part after you have programed the remote, you can do just about anything you want with it.. Just so everyone knows, I have not purchased this unit yet, but after playing with it for almost and hour it's going to look great under my Christmas Tree!!!!!! :-)

I purchased the Kenwood 2080 model but this review can be a little helpful for the 2090 because there is not alot of differences in the two. First off, I think this is the ugliest reciever available (a black model might look a little better). As far as features,it most of the usual odds and ends and then some. the 2080 has doesn't have S-video inputs,so if your running more than one S-video source you will have to make a choice of which one to run to your monitor. I believe the 2090 has S-video inputs so that isn't a problem. You also get a Digital Optical output on the 2090 that the 2080 lacks.
One of the biggest reasons I chose the Kenwood 2080/90 is for it's DTS decoder. When playing a DTS disc it recognizes the DTS code and automaticly swiches to DTS mode. Some recievers I've seen won't do this. DTS playback of High Definition DTS cd's are simply fabulous. Time will tell if DTS DVD's will be as thrilling. One thing to note about DTS, if you do not have a DVD player yet you can play DTS cd's in any cd player if it has optical output (but you MUST run into a DTS decoder such as the 2080/90. If you buy this reciever you owe it to yourself to buy at least a few DTS cd's.
Now how about that funky remote control? I've heard people rave about it (usually salesmen) but have you ever tried to use it? Not saying that it's bad but keep in mind that there are hardly ant buttons on the front panel of the reciever so use of the remote is essential. Most functions take you through several layers or several moves with the "joystick" and gets a little bothersome.
And talk about batteries! Plan on 4 AA batteries lasting about a month. Yes it's a cool remote and a great conversation piece,but keep in mind it's not for everyone. Make sure you read the instruction book.On the plus side, this is the first universal remote that actually controlls everything that I own. It will even controll your blinds and lights too. (no kidding!)
This reciever includes 5 DSP modes are pretty dissapointing. Most reciever offer more modes but sound just as bad. With a little tweeking you can get a pretty good sound. I was used to my sony DSP modes that had a plethora of modes and different adjustments,you won't find that hear.
Pro-Logic decoding is very good. Now days very good pro-logic is a commom thing so this isn't suprising.
Dolby Digital (AC3) decoding is very good also.If this is your first AC3 receiver and you own a DVD player you are in for a treat. It blows Pro-logic out of the water.
I run Midsize Energy speakers in the front,2 midsize Energy speakers in the center and Mirage in the rear. Subwoofers are 2 Advent 10 inch models. One this about this reciever I really liked was the ability to adjust the Sub level with the remote. another feature I liked was the ability to adjust the input level of your sources. It has a clip indicator on the front of the reciever and it showed the my cd player was clipping at line level? It adjusted it down with the remote and solved the problem.
The 2080/90 is capable of recieving RDS (radio data system) from your local stations for text messages such a traffic,weather,call letters etc. After years of never hooking up an antena to my reciever I thought I'd check this out. I could not recieve any signals that were brodcasting this information. In my area that is not surprising (we just got caller ID and call waiting last month!)
I doubt that the reciever was malfuntioning.
I have noticed two bugs. One is sometimes when I switch from one source to another, (cd to phono) the right channel will not work,if I go back and try it again it will be fine. The other bug might be a wiring problem so I hesitate to mention it but once in a while I'll get sort of a interference coming through the center channel.
I tend to point out all the flaws when I talk about a piece of equipment that I own and it might come across that I don't like it. All in all I really like the 2080/90,it sounds great and that's the bottom line! At the time I bought it it was the cheapest way to get a DTS reciever. Since then,Sony has released the STR925 that has DTS plus tons of features and dsp modes at around $500 dollars. I would be suprised if it sounded as good but it deserves a comparison.

Have anybody owned or reviewed this new receiver? Is it worth buying?

Just purchased the Kenwood reciever VR2090... where do I begin...? First of all , it was to replace an old Pioneer VSX-99 AC-3 reciever... why do you ask did it need replacement? Well with the expansion of my home theater to DVD... I needed a reciever with more inputs with a LD player and Hi-Fi VCR also. I really wanted a high current amp... but the features of the Kenwood, just blew me away. And the THD levels were pretty impressive in stereo mode. Lets see... The highs are Great sound quality, a little on the bright side, nice that it automatically detects input signal... when I have a DVD movie playing, sometimes the begining is only in pro-logic, before it gets to dolby digital, and you can see the reciever changing as the information it gets changes. It has 2 optical inputs, one coaxial digital input, and one optical output. More than comparable recievers. And if you have an old LD player like myself those extra optical inputs are nice. Another nice feature is that it can play two different information to two seperate rooms. I use my old reciver to power speakers down in my basement, and yet I control what is played to each through the one. I can watch a movie upstairs, and my daughter can dance to a cd downstairs....I also like the extra "one touch" features or "macros" the remote has to offer, it just takes a little reading and you could become a pro at programming it. My system consists of a Pioneer 603LD, Pioneer DV606D DVD player, and a Sony Super Hi-Fi VCR. Speakers are Mirage 890i's for fronts, Mirage MC-si center, MBS2's for the rears and a BPS-150 sub-woofer. Line level inputs help control clipping, but I noticed that my DVD player clips before the actual front light displays such. The only lows are, yes it's ugly, it should've stayed black like the previous VR1080, and.... I've noticed that since the remote is two-way, meaning it recieves input from the reciever, not only outputs, it's response is a little sluggish if not aimed properly. Anyways... if you're a gadget freak, this is the system for you... I still don't believe that it matches up to the quality of a high current amp like Yamaha, Denon etc... so it's a trade off.This being the reason I rate it at only 4 stars.

Somebody....Please delete this entry on "kenwood kenwood..." It must have been a type-o!!!

I recently bought the Kenwood 2090 and with in 3 weeks returned it. Why might you ask. Well first off I have to say it had nothing to do with how the Kenwood performed audio wise. The sound I could not complain about. The receiver has both DD and DTS. It looked sleak and also had plenty of input/outputs. Why then? Lets start off by saying the remote is one of the worst designs I have ever seen. It is one thing to have push buttons but a joystick?!?! After messing with this remote for any length of time you get tired of pushing left, right, up, back and down. It is easier to use a regular remote. The macros and everthing else were nice but again to try and navigate to your different icons was terrible. Why wasn't this a touch screen? My other complaint was that the receiver is suppost to detect automatically the type of sound source being fed into it. I found that this did not always function correctly and sometimes when you switch between sound sources(DSS to DVD or VCR to DSS) the sound would shut off. You would then have to shut off the receiver and turn it back on so that the receiver could "RESET" and the sound would come back on. I have talked to a buddy of mine who bought the same receiver and noticed the same thing. It should beable to change on the fly so to speak. So I gave this 3 stars for the sound and the fact that it is a nice looking unit. Not to mention it has plenty of inputs and outputs. But with several receivers coming out with similar options on DD/DTS receivers this one fell short. If you don't care about these things and plan on buying a Marantz remote than go for it. If not skip this one. So I am still searching for my replacement. I will look at both the Sony DA50ES and the new Yamaha RXV995. One of them shall be mine!